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6.07.2012

Sovereign Satan... Really?

One of the most disturbing trends in Christianity over the
last couple hundred years is the idea of a sovereign devil. Personally I have never met a single
Christian who would vocally affirm that they believe in a sovereign Satan;
however I have found countless believers whose praxis affirms what their words
would never say.

Allow me to make a few real case studies of how this plays
out:

Case #1:

I have served on a number of Chrysalis Flights in my
day. Chrysalis is a 3 day retreat for
youth that inculcates them with the Gospel message in a meaningful way. (This study is not a dis of Chrysalis, I am
gladly serving on the next retreat.)
During the process of preparation for a Chrysalis weekend the team meets
for 4 to 6 weeks prior to the weekend itself.
At the conclusion of the last team meeting prior to the weekend there
will be, without fail, a discussion among team members to be on the lookout for
attacks from the ‘evil one’ during the week.
In other words there is this thought that what is going to happen on
that weekend is so wonderful that Satan is going to do everything in his power
to stop it. When the team arrives on
Thursday night to prepare for the weekend there inevitably is the conversation
between some team members about the things Satan allegedly did to try to thwart
the weekend. Usually it is their kid
getting sick, having car trouble, or a stressful week at work. After these exchanges those involved in the
discourse typically sit back and marvel at the work the evil did to try to
distract them.

Case #1 analysis:

For those involved in these conversations Satan is sovereign
over the work place which caused the stress.
Satan is sovereign over the pot hole that sent their care to the
shop. Satan is sovereign over the bacteria
that gave their kid a cold… etc. Can you
see it? Can this really be? Um… if Satan has that kind of authority, well
I might be better off worshiping him, because it appears to me that it is he who
is really the one true god. God forbid
that someone acknowledges the real possibility that God himself would orchestrate
said events in order to sharpen one’s focus… or *gasp* that those events might
be chalked up to the basic course of life in a fallen world over which God
sovereignly reigns.

Case #2:

A young woman leaves her fundamentalist home and heads off
to a fundamentalist Christian college.
While away at college she decides that this particular college is not
right for her because she had a bad experience with the faculty, her
classmates, and the curriculum. The parents
of this child grow deeply concerned that ‘the evil one’ has thwarted God’s will
for her to go to this college.

Case #2 analysis:

Satan is sovereign over the experiences this girl had with
the faculty… or at least is sovereign over her interpretation of those
events. Satan is sovereign over here
interactions with her classmates. Or
Satan has directly influenced her perception of the curriculum. Again, I would be willing to bet my home that
the parents of this girl would never vocalize that they believe in a sovereign
devil, but their praxis proves that they do.
God forbid that her leaving the college might actually be the will of
God (which in this case it likely was.)
Or God forbid that her leaving this college is *gasp* caused by living
life in a world effected by the fall.

Case #3:

Barack Obama

Case #3 Analysis

Countless people seem to believe that our government is
under the authority of the evil one, and that the presence of certain elected
officials proves that. Um… I do not give
a lick where you stand on political issues.
It seems, to these folks, that Satan somehow is sovereign over our
entire political process, which means that Satan somehow has the authority to
pull voting levers, run political campaigns, make chads hang from ballots, and
swap out the internals of Diebold voting machines. Just stop people, you sound ridiculous.

General Thoughts…

I could lay out countless more cases of this ad nauseum, but
these three will suffice.

Every time a person gives credit to the evil one for
something they personally do not like, they without knowing are actually
affirming that they themselves are gods.
While that sounds bold, it is true.
The definition of evil is “that which displeases God”. In affirming that all is evil which
displeases one’s self, or interferes with one’s perceived notion of what ‘should
be’, one is affirming themselves as god.
They make their own thoughts out as though they were God’s thoughts. It is a dangerous road to walk.

Moreover when a person credits every hiccup in their plans
to a work of the evil one, they are without even realizing it, affirming the
sovereignty of Satan. The devil is not sovereign,
God is in authority of all your situations, not simply the ones where you feel
that you are being moved of the Spirit.
In more charismatic circles there is a heavy emphasis on experiencing
the Holy Spirit, but the reality is that God is at work in all, ALL, things and
while these people tread through this world looking for the next experience
they miss the simple fact that they are in the midst of a constant experience
of God’s sovereignty. Unfortunately they
attribute the sovereign work of God in making their tire go flat out to be the
work of the evil and by doing so they blaspheme God. That’s right, it is blasphemy to credit the
working of God to be the work of Satan, yet this is common place not only among
charismatics, but among most of evangelicalism.

I do offer this one caution, evil things do happen! Things which displease God actually
occur. God is not pleased with tyranny and
war, or with genocide, or abuse, sexual license, etc… however the question we
ought to ask is ‘why does God allow that which displeases Him?’ That is a good question, and it is one that I
do not have an easy answer to.
Nonetheless I am not, nor should you be willing to chalk up evil to a
sovereign Satan.

Remember that Satan is bound, he is limited, and he is NOT
the reason you spilled spaghetti sauce on your nice church clothes.

2 comments:

Once again there is much good in this post. I would agree with you that there are many who parade Satan out there in all situations and behind every telephone pole. All of your case scenarios are pretty much spot on, too. Here is my caution. The Bible (even as God is always sovereign) documents much very open spiritual warfare between Jesus and Satan and between Satan's minions (evil spirits) and followers of Jesus Christ. In many non-West European or American cultures, there is even today a very clear sense of this battle. Though many have abused this reality and many have been drawn in by their bad theology, we need to be careful not to discount that there is (even as God is sovereign), until the consummation of the Kingdom, spiritual battle taking place. The devil is not sovereign. For whatever reason, though, God hasn't stomped him out completely just yet. Good food for thought. Always challenging to read.

Hey Kevin! I know that I totally skirted the reality of spiritual warfare, and it was an intentional skirting. I do believe in the reality of evil, and the presence of real evil entities (demonic and what have you). I agree with your caution.

The battle is real, but the battle must be fought from the standpoint of God's power over darkness, not from the standpoint of the power over darkness over God. I know I am not speaking anything new to you, and that you agree with what I just said. I simply do not want people to miss the reality of Who is really in charge.